The time is mid- to late 1980s during a significant period of reform nearing the end of the Cold War. Of course, this is not just any work of writing it contains some of the greatest intelligence secrets of the Soviet Union. Its message is important for all mankind.' British publisher Scott Blair, otherwise known as Barley, has been entrusted with this piece of ‘literature’ which has been passed to him from a Russian physicist through the hands of the beautiful and self-sacrificing Katya. 'A Soviet friend of mine has written a creative and important work of literature.

Eventually, however, something clicked and I was off and running to the conclusion.

I even struggled to determine the role of the first person narrator. Quite a few characters were introduced, and I had trouble distinguishing between several of them. It starts off slowly, and likely due to my ignorance of ‘spy’ jargon, I was a bit lost. Spying may be waiting, and waiting is what I did for about one-third of the book before becoming nearly fully absorbed. I don’t typically read spy ‘thrillers’ anymore, and I would say the word ‘thriller’ is used loosely here. For as the Iron Curtain begins to rust and crumble, Blair is left to sound a battle cry that may fall on deaf ears. A magnificent story of love, betrayal, and courage, The Russia House catches history in the act. Along the way it has an explosive impact on the lives of three people: a Soviet physicist burdened with secrets a beautiful young Russian woman to whom the papers are entrusted and Barley Blair, a bewildered English publisher pressed into service by British Intelligence to ferret out the document's source. If it arrives at its destination, and if its import is understood, the consequences could be cataclysmic. In Moscow, a sheaf of military secrets changes hands. Navigating readers through the shadow worlds of international espionage with critical knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carré tracks the dark and devastating trail of a document that could profoundly alter the course of world events. John le Carré has earned worldwide acclaim with extraordinary spy novels, including The Russia House, an unequivocal classic.

The russia house john le carré